Lone dangers: the physical toll of social isolation

孤独

Babbage from The Economist

2026-01-15

34 分钟
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Loneliness and social isolation are connected to around 100 deaths every hour, according to the World Health Organisation. Feeling lonely has been linked to cardiovascular disease, neurological conditions and problems with the immune system. Developing better social connections could improve millions of peoples' health, but doing so is not as simple as it sounds. Host: Alok Jha, The Economist's science and technology editor. Guests: The Economist's Ainslie Johnstone; Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University. Thanks to Patrick Abrahams, Helen Kingston and Caroline Blake in Frome, England.  Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.
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  • The Economist.

  • In a workshop in rural England, several men have gathered to make some useful objects out of wood and metal.

  • So we have two rooms.

  • Typically this one here is hand tools and light machine tools, and social.

  • And that's fairly typical where you've got maybe four or five people working,

  • maybe 10 or 12 people sat around chatting.

  • They say that if the bandsaw breaks in a shed it's serious,

  • but if the kettle breaks this is a disaster.

  • Patrick Abraham set up the Men's Shed project in Frome,

  • a small town in the county of Somerset in the Southwest of England.

  • We're making some bike racks, scooter racks for the local schools.

  • So when the kids come to school they can put their bikes and their scooters away in a neat pile.

  • Tony, one of his shedders, showed us what they've been up to.

  • So if a child comes in they can put my scooter in a yellow one,

  • or put it in a black one or a blue one.

  • They know where they put them.

  • We've done about six of them at six different schools.

  • The colors good therapy for us.

  • It is good.

  • It's a good thing to do things for the community.